Whanganui letters: New cycleway crossings raise questions

Why do the cycleway crossings at Ingestre, Guyton and Ridgway streets and at Taupo Quay provide press button-operated traffic lights for both bicyclists and pedestrians, asks Dave Cameron.

Congratulations to the designer and builders of the latest city cycleway section from Fergusson St down SH3. It provides a much safer experience to access the cycleway to the river, from Springvale.

However, I have two questions:

Why is the Glasgow St cycleway crossing (Chronicle, June 9) controlled by lights, rather than white strips on the road? That is, a simple pedestrian crossing, which could be located further up Glasgow St to ensure clear sightlines for drivers and bicyclists.

I suspect that many motorists become annoyed at the time delay for these lights to turn green after cyclists have crossed. This crossing contrasts with the crossing at SH3 that has neither lights nor pedestrian crossing, although it does have a safety island between lanes.

Why do the cycleway crossings at Ingestre, Guyton and Ridgway streets and at Taupo Quay provide press button-operated traffic lights for both bicyclists and pedestrians? This seems entirely redundant to me. I was waiting for a pulsing green bicycle at one of these crossings recently when a pulsing green person appeared. Was I entitled to ride across with the pedestrian, I wondered, or should I wait for a green bike?

I would be grateful if someone in the council might respond to these queries about the city's excellent cycleways. I suspect that many other readers might share my curiosity.

DAVE CAMERON
Whanganui

Academic arguments delight

Re the article "Hunt for ghost in brain's machine" (Opinion, June 9). Intriguing to find such an article in the Chronicle, when I would have thought that a more relevant place may well be in a paper presented at a university in order to stimulate discussion on a philosophy of psychology among, perhaps, undergrad students, if not those more advanced in the heady halls of academia.

To reveal a bit about the "me" behind my opinions, a few years ago I was a fulltime mature student in my 60s at Canterbury and Victoria universities. Graduated BA, sociology major, anthropology minor. In the elective mix of papers I passed were ones in psychology, philosophy, one on the beginnings of Western science and of course papers in sociology and anthropology.

Overall, I found the Chronicle article fascinating, mentally stimulating and I wouldn't mind seeing more of that ilk.

Indeed, if those two writers (an "Hon. professor" and an "Emeritus professor") lived in my home town of Whanganui, I would be delighted to indulge in some academic argument with them. I could toss some of those complex phrases in that article back and forth in joyful and completely nerdy discussion. You wouldn't find my repartee pococurante in the slightest.

Do some more like that one, please Chronicle.

I wonder what other Chronicle readers thought of that article?

STAN HOOD
Aramoho

Gang funeral publicity

If you want to leave this world with a big noise and national publicity, then join a gang.

Be one of the bad boys dealing drugs and frightening the average hard-working Kiwi and you will get a big send-off.

I would ask the question, why do our newsmakers give these criminals this huge profile?

They love it.

KEVIN O'SULLIVAN
Whanganui East

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